On the third anniversary.....

Ali and friends

I'm not sure if this photo needs an explanation.  For many of Ali's friends it won't be a surprise to see her surrounded by soft toys, especially bears.  Others may regard it as a strange choice of picture to display on the third anniversary of the death of someone who may in due course be regarded (as I believe she will be) as one of the great saints in the Catholic Church.

Yes, I could have shown a more 'sober' photo of Ali;  one which might seem more fitting for someone who in due course should be considered (in the view of many people including myself) for canonisation.  However, even though there is so much to be said about Ali that is sober and serious and solemn,  we can only understand her if we realise that she was not at all stuffy or 'grown up.'  In fact, she was extraordinarily child-like, and her child-likeness co-existed with the various serious things she thought and said and did.

Of course, Jesus Christ Himself said that we shall not enter the kingdom of heaven unless we become like little children (Matt 18:3).  So today it seems fitting, on the anniversary of the day on which she entered into eternal life, to remember Ali's simplicity and child-likeness and the joy she radiated by just being Ali.

Ali in El Salvador in 1994.  She was very happy to see the picture of Pooh Bear!